Dragon Fantasy: The Black Tome of Ice

About

Embark on a classic JRPG adventure in Dragon Fantasy: The Black Tome of Ice, fighting strategic battles without random encounters in the frozen Tundaria. Engage in exciting ship-to-ship combat against rock monsters and vanquish hordes of demons threatening the world. Experience Area-of-Effect attacks and powerful moves in this epic tale.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Dragon Fantasy: The Black Tome of Ice screenshot

50%

Audience ScoreBased on 40 reviews

story8 positive mentions

grinding8 negative mentions

The game is a fun homage to classic JRPGs like Chrono Trigger, featuring charming graphics and enjoyable gameplay.
It offers a good story with likable characters, providing over 20 hours of entertainment.
The combat system is quick and allows for tactical play without excessive grinding, and there are no random encounters.

The game is plagued by numerous game-breaking bugs and crashes, which can severely hinder progress.
The user interface is cumbersome, with issues like slow menu navigation and a lack of clarity in combat targeting.
The story feels disjointed and lacks depth, with characters that are often bland and uninteresting.

story
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
66%
9%
The story is characterized by a traditional dungeon-crawling structure interspersed with fetch quests, but many players find it meandering and lacking a cohesive overarching plot. While some appreciate the likable characters and the convenience of side quest management, others criticize the narrative as shallow and directionless, leading to a frustrating gameplay experience. Overall, opinions are mixed, with some finding the story above-average and filled with nostalgic references, while others deem it vague and uninteresting.
- “Good storyline and likable characters.”
- “The overall story is above-average and the game is packed with homages to games both classic and contemporary.”
- “It was interesting because the monsters and equipment you got in the subplot you did first could be used to make the other subplots easier.”
- “The story felt like events and small plots connected together with no overarching plot.”
- “The story feels meandering and listless, with characters just going from place to place with the thinnest of reasons and explanations when on-rails, and little direction given when the world is opened to you.”
- “Basically, the story feels shallow and directionless, the characters feel bland and uninteresting, the combat is annoying in its tedium and difficulty, other systems lack refinement, the music lacks presence... this all just leads to an experience that I have tried to continue several times over a course of several days, but leaves me distant and going through the motions at its best moments and vocally frustrated at its worst.”
music
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
54%
11%
The music in the game is generally described as pleasant but often mismatched with the pixel art style, leading to a lack of memorable or impactful tracks. While some reviewers appreciate the charm of the compositions, many feel that the soundtrack fails to enhance the emotional depth and atmosphere expected in a JRPG, resulting in an overall underwhelming experience. Critics suggest that the music lacks presence and cohesion, making it less engaging and forgettable.
- “Well written, and has great music.”
- “The music is really nice.”
- “I have a difficult time judging music, but I will say this game does it pretty well.”
- “Music in a JRPG is crucial to grabbing your attention, accentuating scenes, bringing emotion, adding to atmosphere, etc. but there's nothing in this soundtrack that is as memorable, catchy, or mood-influencing as it should be.”
- “Basically, the story feels shallow and directionless, the characters feel bland and uninteresting, the combat is annoying in its tedium and difficulty, other systems lack refinement, the music lacks presence... this all just leads to an experience that I have tried to continue several times over a course of several days, but leaves me distant and going through the motions at its best moments and vocally frustrated at its worst.”
- “The music absolutely does not fit.”
graphics
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
63%
19%
The graphics of the game are described as reminiscent of 16-bit SNES-era visuals, which are well-executed but could benefit from further enhancement. While some players find the graphics acceptable and not an eyesore, others express disappointment with the overall stability of the Linux port, particularly for a pixel art game. Additionally, there is a noted disconnect between the graphics and the orchestral music, which some players feel is inappropriate for the art style.
- “The SNES-era graphics were well done and accomplished what they needed to.”
- “New graphics, awesome gameplay!”
- “There is plenty of room for improvement, but the graphics definitely aren't an eyesore.”
- “I'm on Kubuntu LTS for crying out loud, and my graphics driver is the natively supported Intel. I've played several Steam games with modern 3D graphics and they never crash, so it's totally unacceptable for a pixel art game to have a Linux port here on Steam and be this much of an unstable afterthought.”
- “16-bit SNES-era graphics and loud banging orchestra just didn't mix (and I make game music, so that's big for me).”
- “Graphics are so-so.”
humor
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is described as hit or miss, with some players finding it childish and cheesy, while others appreciate the tongue-in-cheek and goofy elements that don't detract from the overall experience.
- “There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor and goofiness, but it doesn't get in the way.”
- “Some funny lines here and there.”
- “Humor is hit or miss.”
gameplay
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The gameplay features a mix of decent early boss fights and an interesting mechanic where players can choose the order of subplots as their party splits up. However, the combat system is criticized for its simplicity, leading to a quickly diminishing engagement that can feel repetitive or tedious. Overall, while the graphics are praised, the gameplay's depth is seen as limited.
- “The game had an interesting mechanical twist where your party splits up and you have to play subplots in whatever order you prefer.”
- “New graphics, awesome gameplay!”
- “Gameplay ++”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be largely tedious and frustrating, often exacerbated by high monster HP, powerful enemy abilities, and insufficient gold rewards for item management. While tactical play and adjusting difficulty can mitigate the need for grinding, many still feel it detracts from the overall experience, especially towards the end of the game.
- “But unfortunately it falls quite short: to me, it is at best dull and tedious, and at worst obnoxious and frustrating.”
- “Combined with frequent misses, rather high monster HP levels for average party damage output, monster abilities that deal high amounts of damage, and a low gold yield that seems too little to properly cover refilling items and staying at inns, much less buying new equipment, combat becomes a tedious chore, if not brazenly overly difficult as well.”
- “This gets very tedious at the end of the game when you've accumulated a ton of items!”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The stability of the game is significantly undermined by frequent game-breaking glitches, which detract from the overall experience.
- “However, game-breaking glitches ruin it.”
- “However, game-breaking glitches ruin it.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
The atmosphere in the game is significantly hindered by an unremarkable soundtrack, which fails to create memorable or emotionally impactful moments, ultimately detracting from the overall experience.
- “The music in this JRPG is crucial for grabbing your attention and enhancing the atmosphere, but unfortunately, the soundtrack lacks memorable and catchy tunes that could elevate the emotional experience.”
- “The soundtrack fails to deliver any memorable or mood-influencing tracks, which significantly detracts from the overall atmosphere of the game.”
- “Without a strong musical backdrop, the atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, leaving players disconnected from the emotional weight of the scenes.”